Set In Stone
by Phantomhivex
Summary: Set in between the original series and Shippuden, Kiyomi Hyūga travels through the grass country in an attempt to get stronger. When she encounters S-Ranked Akatsuki member Deidara, she realizes that it's best to not ask about the personal lives of the company you keep.
1. Chapter 1

The land of grass was as green as ever. There wasn't many huge trees, but plenty of empty fields that satisfied my amused my mind with the crackle and crisp of my feet on every dry patch of grass. I was tired, very thirsty, when I found a small spring. I ran over happily, relieving my itching throat with the water that was slightly colder than the air around me.

This was the first adventure of my life. It took me forever to get Tsunade to let me go on my own, but it finally happened. These next two years of my life were to be spent training, making myself into a woman capable of defeating any ninja that would cross my path. First I needed to find a place to settle, and it sure as hell wouldn't be in the leaf village, or in the fire country at all to be exact. I was heading to the earth country, but the grass country seemed like a good place to stop for a bit. I would stay here in this clearing for a while before finding a close village. But now it was time to celebrate my freedom.

I stood on top of a fallen log, kicking my shoes off in excitement, my brown leggings hugged my thighs tightly underneath my eggplant tinted kimono top with a pale yellow colored tie around the waist. It flowed freely, revealing a fishnet top underneath when I untied it and I pranced around happily on the log, spinning sharply when I got to the edge and running and leaping to the other end again. I pulled off my arm warmers and hopped off so my feet were in the grass, the blades weaving between my toes. I laid down across the log on my back and tilted my head so that it looked to my right, where the stream was located. There was many small plants, some were flowered, with petals a dewy blue color. I grabbed a handful of these white ones with extremely small petals and pressed them up against my nose so I could take a sniff.

I placed a hand on the ground for balance before tossing the flowers in the river, smiling happily to myself. Of course I would miss everyone at home, even including my new and rocky relationship with the rest of the Hyuga clan. Mom gave me a big kiss before I left, dad simply hugged me, but my brother, what he did caught me by surprise. Instead he gave me a handshake, and told me he'd give me a hug when I came back alive. I'll come back. I'll make sure of it. If I die at any point, it's definitely not while I'm alone, that's for sure.

I held on to the bark tightly, pulling my knees up so that my feet were flat against the log as well.

"Are you preparing for your funeral, hm?" My eyes got wide and I let out a small shriek of horror, not noticing that someone had been watching me. I quickly sat up and turned to look at the owner of the voice, flushing deeply with my embarrassment.

He was a man, not extremely tall, maybe a little less than five foot six. His hair was long and blonde, covering his left eye, but the right one was a pale icy blue. He wore a dark shirt with black pants and regular ninja sandals, but I saw no headband. I wasn't wearing one at the moment either, though, so I wasn't one to judge. I could tell he was a ninja by the bandages around his right thigh, where the weapon holster usually wraps around. Still, it was shocking to see someone here.

"I-I can go if you were-" I was cut off by him walking closer to me. He crouched down so we were at eye level, and looked at me from different angles. "You're not from here, are you?"

"How did you know that?" I scowled, hoping I didn't sound too stupid. He chuckled slightly, pushing up from his thighs so that he stood straight again. "No one from this village would be out here in the open just having fun, hm" he explained. I blinked, realizing that I really was an idiot. I was totally going to get myself killed.

"I'll be off now. Don't get yourself slaughtered, hm?" he winked at me and waved, starting to walk past, but something had caught my eye.

"Wait!" I shouted, twisting my body to face him. He paused, but didn't turn to look at me. "...come back here for a second," I continued softer, knowing I had his attention. I made no move to get up and going over to him, because I didn't have my shoes on, so I resorted to calling him back to me.

I could see his shoulders move up and down, as if he was laughing to some joke that I knew nothing about, but he turned around and walked right back over to me, crouching down again. He stared me straight in the eye, a lot of his large personality showing through. He wasn't one of the calm guys as far as I could tell. Instead, I could see that he had this spark inside of him that ignited his eyes.

I avoided eye contact and blushed at first, knowing he probably thought I was a psycho, but curiosity got the better of me, and I grabbed his hand, flipping it over so that the palm was facing upwards.

He smirked knowingly, but my eyes widened at the sight. I didn't flinch when he reached his other hand out and wrapped it around my wrist.

"You're pretty stupid for a girl," he murmured, watching me look at his hand. How could I not be intrigued, though? This person had a working mouth on the inside of his hand. It was certainly worthy of inspection. The only time I moved was when I felt something move underneath the hand that was latched to my wrist. So the same thing was on the other one, wasn't it?

"I guess so," I replied to him closing his hand and pushing it away. "But I guess I've let my guard down. I haven't found an enemy in miles." It was true. These roads were as devoid of life as I had ever seen. This blonde man was the first human I've encountered in hours, maybe almost a day.

"Why are you here, anyways?" he asked in a curious, yet annoyed tone. His face was smug, studying mine with his cold eyes.

"Training," I replied simply, reaching back to put on my arm warmers and then my shoes. He stood silently, as if contemplating something.

"Really?" He asked as I finished putting on the rest of my gear. "Then do you want to have a battle with me?"

I looked up at him, surprised by what he had offered. There was no way I would let myself lose, but what if he was WAY stronger than me, and made me look like a total idiot? I guess it would be worth the risk, though, as I didn't think he'd let me go away without a fight, anyways. He looked strong though. It made me nervous.

"Sure," I sighed, pushing from my knees to stand up, feeling slightly weak from his request, "Where?"

He turned around and started walking out into the middle of the field, unzipping a bag he had attached to his belt, "Here,"

I shuffled over quickly, taking my time to push some of the tall grass out of the way. He had pulled some white substance out of the bag and held it in his bony hand. Standing about twenty feet away, I tried to pump myself up for battle.

"Why are we doing this again?" I asked, placing one of my hands on my hip. He chuckled softly, glaring at me happily. "You asked for it, sitting out there without a care in the world. You should've been on guard, hm,"

I rolled my eyes, not even bothering to study what he was going to be doing with the white stuff. "Then come on," I smirked tightly, trying to make it seem like I wasn't worried. "Don't just stand there, I have things to do,"

"Sure thing, hm!" The man disappeared behind a gigantic puff of smoke. I coughed but quickly started to use my families jutsu. It was the ability to take chakra and mold it's physical form and make it work in any form I wished. Quickly pulling up a thin wall of the light blue tinted chakra, I watched in horror as many small butterflies moved at me sharply and exploded upon impact as they came across the shield. I gasped slightly as the smoke cleared, watching the blonde stand there with more of the figures in his hand.

Letting the chakra dissipate, I listened to him shout across the field.

"Don't you like my art, hm?" He asked, seeming to fix one of the figures. Art? So the small things happened to be made of clay? That's all I could gather from the context.

"It's wonderful. Why did you stop attacking? Was that all you had?" I asked mockingly, much to his disdain. He held up a hand sign and the butterfly dramatically increased in size. "Would you like to repeat that? Hm?! Don't be such a bitch!" And then the large thing came at me.

"Excuse me!" My eyebrows tightened together as I pulled up the wall of chakra again. Right before the thing smashed into it, though, the blonde guy yelled "KATSU!" And the explosion was much, much more intense than the last. It had started to burn away at the wall of chakra, and I suddenly started to panic, wondering if he was fire natured. My worries slowed when I noticed the shield start to regenerate. If he used fire based jutsu, then the fire would continue to eat away. But if it wasn't fire, then what was it?

"What's your trick?" I asked, sending out the chakra towards him. I guess the most appropriate description of how it looked was similar to Gaara controlling his sand.

"Trick, hm?" The man dodged the attacks, sending out more small explosives. "There's no trick."

"Then how are you making these explode if it's not fire based?" I asked, making my chakra send out towards him again. I knew it wouldn't affect him in the slightest, but I wanted to hear his answer without him attempting to attack me.

He grinned at me and held up a very common hand sign used in earth attacks. My eyebrows were raised and I panted slightly. "I'm not going to tell how how to defeat me! What kind of idiot do you think I am?! I'll tell you this much... Art is an explosion!"

My eyes widened, the earth below started to shake and crumble all around me, "Hell!" I jumped up, trying to avoid being enveloped in the huge dusty cloud. The heat was unbearable, simmering and making me squint.

"Hah! Wanna try some more shit on me? HM?" He grinned maliciously.

I skidded to a halt roughly ten feet away. "What was that?" I questioned, sweating slightly from the heat.

"Do you like them?" He asked back, showing me another small creature modeled out of the white clay. "Before we even started this... I implanted these in the area at the first glimpse of another human... hm... They burrow into the ground, and all I have to do is give the word, then they become art,"

I then realized why he told me to battle him in that exact spot. I thought it was just because there's more room, but it was actually because he wanted me to be in limit of his attack. My face contorted into an expression of mixed confusion and fear.

"Art...? Hu-Who are you?"


	2. Chapter 2

"Who am I?" A smirk was plastered on the guys face. He blinked once and started to laugh a bit. "I guess it's good that you don't know... You seem like one of the innocent types,"

I tried to think of what he could be talking about. "What do you even mean?" The way it came out of my lips sounded slightly louder than a whisper.

He laughed when I suddenly felt the pressure of something sliding up my leg. I looked down to see a white centipede slither up and attach itself firmly from my ankle up to my thigh. My eyes widened and I started to tug at the thing hopelessly.

"Checkmate," he grinned, starting to lift his fingers. "You shouldn't let your guard down for anything. Even to hear a story, right, hm? Now you'll pay for it... With your demise!"

"No!" I begged, knowing that it was useless to try and run away. The thing was bound around me too tight. Even if I could run, he'd detonate it and I'd still go up in flames.

"It's been fun playing with you!" He wore a smug expression flawlessly. "KA-"

My eyes were clenched, but when the rest of the word didn't come out, and I didn't start to detonate, I opened my eyes a crack. The man pulled his long blonde hair away from his left eye and behind his ear to reveal a scope underneath. "Hnngh..."

I tried to look in the same direction as he did, but when I glanced over all I saw was the rest of the wide field and about 500 feet away was the start of a small forest.

He let out a deflated sigh and before I knew it I was staring at the ground. "Hey! What do you think you're doing!" I barked when I realized that he had lifted me over his shoulder, bomb still attached to my leg, and that he was sprinting quickly deep into the brush to the west, deep into some thick trees.

"Shut up, you stupid woman!" He ordered me, grip on my waist tightening. I was completely confused. In the span of fifteen minutes I went from meeting a man, battling a man, almost being murdered by a man, and now being carried away by him. I was quiet though, for fear that if I spoke that I would lose my life.

Once we were a distance away from the field, he halted quickly, putting me down roughly, removed the bomb, and sat on his knees, pulling me down so that I was close against him, but facing off into the distance of the trees. He swiftly pulled out a Kunai and held it against my neck, while I reflexively tensed greatly.

He leaned down close to my ear and muttered, "If you say ONE word, you're DEAD." I complied, keeping quiet. Off in the distance the rustle of the grass could be heard.

"You said he was headed on this direction?" A firm, strong voice boomed in the distance.

"Yes sir," a more submissive one replied immediately. "I also checked this place out a couple of minutes ago. There was a girl here, probably waiting for something..."

My eyes grew wide again, which was starting to give me a headache. I stared blankly at the bomb that was lying on the ground a couple feet in front of me and listened to the men speak again.

"And about ten minutes ago explosions were heard and believed to be coming from this area, sir," the smaller voice added on. I panicked, thinking that we were going to be found out. As much as I feared the man that was threatening me right now, for some reason I felt as though the ones in the field wouldn't be much more accommodating.

"Come on. Lets go inform the Kage so they can get Anbu out to survey the area," the leader announced. There was another rustle of grass and then complete silence. Once all was quiet and calm, the man removed the Kunai from my neck and stood up. I stood as well and looked at him plainly. He frowned, knowing that today was not the day that he would be able to blow me up.

"Listen, hm," he started, leaning back against the tree. "This situation sucks. I'd love to kill you right here, but then I'd surely be discovered. I can't just leave you here, though, as you'll gladly give information up about  
My whereabouts, hm."

"That's true," I admitted, not knowing what he trying to say. I had my arms crossed tightly over my chest and one foot leaned against the base of a tree.

"So I need you to come with me," He finished off nonchalantly, walking so that he could get a clear view of the large grassy area.

"What?! You're psychotic if you ever think I'm going to come with you!" I spat, eyebrows furrowing with anger. "What is wrong with you?!"

"Listen," he growled back, pushing me up against a tree with his left forearm and held the kunai against my neck again with the other hand. His face was centimeters away from mine and he glared menacingly into my eyes. "I could kill you right here in two seconds and still get away with it, hm. The only reason I'm hesitant against it is because it'd be a large hassle for me to get away with no issues. Now, do you want to come with me? Or die, hm? I'm perfectly fine with either one,"

I stared at him for a couple of moments before deciding to be brave and pushed his hands away. I walked a couple of steps away and asked coldly "Which direction are you going in?"

He seemed to calm down a bit and nodded his head to the south. "Sunagakure," he replied quietly, in comparison to the yelling he's been doing the rest of the time.

"Then let's go," I closed my eyes and started to walk towards the south. I was seriously pissed off. This guy just ruined my plans of finding a nice place in the grass village for the next couple of years before heading back to Konoha.

He seemed to laugh a bit under his breath but followed behind me anyways. "Hurry up," he ordered me and started to run. "Didn't you hear them say the Anbu were coming?"

How dare he be so demanding of me. You can't just run up to a person, try to kill them, and then force them to go on a trip with you. I knew if I talked about it, though, he'd definitely think twice about letting me live.

We ran for a while, until we both started to get a bit tired. The man said that since we weren't really running from anyone, we could probably take a break and rest for the night at an inn or something similar. I was extremely uncomfortable with that, but if I refused I could probably choose death. Death had started to rule my life now. Every single thing I did. I could follow his every order, or I could die.

The town we stumbled upon was small and calm. Many families and children relaxed leisurely in the streets, buying small things from shops or playing with each other. There was one inn there, and it seemed to be mostly empty because when we walked inside, there was only one other guest in the main area and only one worker behind the desk.

Right when we walked in though, I was extremely nervous. I realized that I never got this mans name, and he had never heard mine before. What if something came up and we didn't know what to say?

"Excuse me," The man asked, looking at the lady behind the desk in a slightly more charming voice than he had been using with me. "Do you have a room open?"

"He-Why, yes. We do." She looked up, startled, not noticing that anyone had even entered the building. I tried to appear friendly, but I wondered if I was just looking creepy to this lady right now.

She pulled out one of the keys from the desk and handed them to my new 'team mate' of sorts.

"Just wondering," he spoke lucidly, "do you have any rooms with two beds? Hm?"

The lady shook her head no. "Why? Aren't you two married?" She asked honestly. I believe at that moment both of ours eyes bugged out of our heads. "Married?" I repeated, shocked.

"Yes. Mostly only newly married couples come here," she replied to me.

The man seemed to regain his composure and gripped my hand in his tightly. It was one of the worst hand holding moments of my life. His bony fingers dug into my flesh as he gripped way too tightly, and the tongues weren't making ANYTHING better.

"Haha," He laughed, acting happily surprised. "She's my fiancé. I guess she got a little surprised that someone already assumed we were married, hm. It's still a little awkward to sleep in the same room," he tried to justify his request.

"Ah, young love!" The woman clapped her hands together. "Well, anyways, I need you to fill out this chart and pay me the fee beforehand," she took out a clipboard and the man filled it out quickly, taking a moment to think to himself before scribbling "Ryo Sato," on the paper. I knew it wasn't his real name, because he took way too long to think about it before writing something down. The lady took the board back and the man took the fee out of his pocket before waving to the lady, grip still tight on my hand the whole time.

"Upstairs, second door on your left," the lady shouted after us as we started to walk towards where all of the rooms were.

He let go of my hand and let me walk first, trying to act like a gentleman in public. I'm sure as soon as we got upstairs it would be a completely different story. I walked briskly, not knowing what else to do at the moment. I didn't want him yelling at me later for being too slow.

We got upstairs and opened the door to the room to find it was very plain, simple, yet nicely designed. The man sat down on the edge of the bed and I took my place sitting on the floor against one of the walls.

We sat there, just staring at each other. He would blink, then so would I. After a couple of minutes of just studying each other, he spoke up.

"It's going to be hard to pull this off if I don't know your name," he explained.

I rolled my eyes, "I could say the same to you, Ryo Sato,"

"Deidara," He said.

"Kiyomi... Hyuga," I replied.

Then the silence returned while the sun went low. It bothered my vision as it came through the window, but I didn't want to move out of the way. Instead I pulled off my shoes and took off my kimono top, leaving me just in a tan colored t-shirt and black pants. I pulled my arm warmers off as well as took my hair out of the hair-tie leaving my things in a pile on the floor.

Deidara pulled off his ninja shoes and took the belt off of his waist as well, noticing that I was starting to get slightly more casual. I hated this. I just wanted to go home now and see my family.

He scooted over on the bed, looking over questioningly. How disgusting. I shook my head no and he sighed.

"You're a bitch, but I'm not gonna let a girl sleep on the floor, hm."

"Pretend I'm not a girl then," I stretched my arms, the suns rays finally disappeared and were no longer blinding me. The only light we had came from the room, and it left a warm glow, barely touching the corners.

"Shut up and get in the bed," he rolled his eyes, standing up and walking a couple of feet away.

"You might want to keep it quiet. The lady downstairs might get the wrong idea," I taunted him slightly, taking my time to get up and trudge over to the bed. It wasn't a small one. It was full sized and the blanket was soft. I crawled underneath the covers and Deidara turned out the light, sitting down where I had been before.

I was pretty comfortable, and if I closed my eyes tightly I could pretend I was back home. Konoha was a wonderful place. The leaves were always falling and they were always a strong green color, and they're journey to the ground could always be heard through the window at night time. That was something that this village was missing.

After a couple of hours I was able to go to sleep, but then a while after that I woke back up. Deidara was sitting at the desk in the room, opening the drawers to see if there was anything worth looking at inside.

"Can you please stop slamming the drawers?" I asked with distain, sitting up and rubbing my eyes. My long  
Hair fell in front of my shoulders, so I brushed it back and and glared at my captor.

"There's nothing else to do, hm! I can't sleep on that floor," he put his hands on his knees and looked up at me. "... Hey! I'm supposed to be your fiancé! You have to at least show me a little bit of support, hm!"

I glared at him like there was no tomorrow. How dare he try to use that to try and get me to let him sleep in the bed. "A little bit of support?!" I argued. "Do you not remember that you tried to KILL ME?!"

"Yeah, yeah, but... Please?!" He asked shutting the last of the drawers.

I groaned and lasted back down, pressed up against and facing the wall. I could hear him get up and walk over quickly, but he didn't get under the blanket, thank god.

"You stay over there and I'm gonna stay over here," I warned him before not speaking for the rest of the night.

"Hah. I'm glad I didn't kill you. I haven't had conversations like this in forever, hm."


	3. Chapter 3

That night surely was a rough one. I spent the entire time facing the wall, face pressed up against the paint. I didn't dare move, and it took me forever to fall asleep. And in the morning I was the first to wake up.

Since I was an early riser anyways, I felt extremely tired. I only received three or four hours sleep in total, but trying to fall back asleep now would be pointless. I couldn't just get up, though. That would alert Deidara, and call unnecessary attention towards me that I definitely do not want. He was facing with his back towards me as well, staying as still as a sleeping person could.

I guess I had a weird relationship with that man. I feared him more than anything I have ever encountered in my life so far, but at the same time, I had no problem yelling at him when the time arose. I wish I had never met him in the first place. I wouldn't be here right now if I was just cautious like I should've been. This is my punishment.

I decided I had enough after another half hour, so I cautiously pulled the blanket over me, and I started to crawl to the bottom edge of the bed, making sure I made no noise. There was a bathroom about fifteen feet away, so I made that my goal.  
Rising to my bare feet, I shuffled over quickly to the bathroom, not even bothering to look back before shutting the door. It was a small bathroom, only lit by candle, but that wasn't necessary since the sun was coming up. There was a small mirror rimmed with porcelain, a toilet, sink, and tiny shower all cramped up into one room which happened to be badly ventilated. I looked into the mirror and began to detangle my hair while judging the rest of my appearance like most other teenage girls.  
I was hungry for sure, not eating since noon yesterday, but I wasn't going to ask Deidara to get me food. He'd probably laugh in my face. I was glad that with ninja training, we learned to withstand long periods without nourishment.

My feet were freezing against the cold tiled floor which was cracked in multiple places. I bared with it and turned on the sink, washing my face and attempting to rub out the sheet marks. After I was finished I turned the brassy knob to the door, peeking out carefully. My expression was hopeful seeming- I REALLY hoped the guy wasn't awake. My eyes turned into slits when I realized that he was in the same exact position that he was in when I went into the bathroom, except his eyes were wide open and looking at me.

"I'm going out to go get something to eat," I informed him, pulling on my shoes and Kimono top.

"Not alone you're not," Deidara grumbled, still a bit groggy. He rubbed his eyes and took his time siting up, frowning. His hair was messy, but her pulled his fingers through it and styled it half-up-half-down with his fringe still covering the left eye with a red ribbon that was on the table.

"What are you talking about now?" I groaned, feeling like a trapped prisoner, or like I was being babysat.

"I can't give you any chance to escape, can I?" He smirked, pulling on his shoes and belt. "Plus this country isn't the friendliest. Especially to girls like you,"

I rolled my eyes, pulling my fingers through my hair again in the reflection of the window. "What's that supposed to mean?" I asked angrily.

"You know, there's kidnappers, rapists, murderers, you never know when someone's gonna abduct you, hm," he stood, using the bed as leverage.

"...First of all, did you forget that I'm a kunoichi? And second of all, you've already kidnapped me! What's the chance that it'll happen again?!" I scoffed, placing my hands on my hips and turning around from the window while walking to the door. "Besides! Why would you care if your prisoner meets an early demise?"

"Same reasons as before, hm. Too much work to cover up and you're slightly entertaining... And you never exactly used your words to tell me you were a kunoichi, hm."

I growled under my breath and opened the door, walking out as he trailed behind me. He locked the door and motioned for me to go down the stairs first. I huffed but obliged, letting my fingers trail on the wall as I made my way down.

"Where were you planning on going to eat?" Deidara questioned as I pushed open the door to the inn. I blushed slightly in embarrassment, realizing that I have no clue what shops are here and where they are.

"Uhmm... I... Don't know..." I admitted under my breath, falling in step next to him as he led us around.

"Fine. Ramen it is." He decided for me.

"But it's breakfast time! Who has ramen for breakfast?!" I argued, our shoulders brushing every couple of steps. It was more like his shoulder brushing against my upper arm, as I was a good couple of inches taller than him. Now that I thought about it, I wondered why I was letting this shrimp dictate what I do.

"Shut up," he hissed, "it's cheap." I rolled my eyes but let the blonde get his way once again. We walked in silence after that as he guided me over to the ramen restaurant. I looked at him closely while he walked inside and began speaking as we took out seats on the stools.

"...you seem to know this village well... Are you from here?" I asked, trying to get to know my captor better.

He seemed to find it humorous, chuckling while grabbing a pair of disposable wooden chopsticks from a tall cup in front of us. "Of course not."

"Ah," I replied simply, grabbing my own pair and embarrassedly waited for someone to take our orders. He glanced over at me questioningly.

"Why?... Where are YOU from, hm?" He asked slyly, tapping his fingers on the counter. I sneered, crossing my legs. "I'm not gonna tell you where I'm from 'til you tell me where you're from."

"Listen here you brat,-" he started off in a hushed, but still harsh tone until a tall bony woman came into view in front of us.

"What can I get you two?" She asked simply and in a lackluster fashion. Her clothes were worn out and she looked as though she was about fifty. She was NOTHING compared to Teuchi and Ayame back at the leaf village, who would kindly greet and then interact with the customer.

"Miso ramen, please," I replied as politely as I could, looking down at the plain counter. Deidara searched through the menu for a couple of seconds before giving up and muttering "Same."

The lady grunted and took the menu before walking behind a curtain to get cooking.  
"As you were saying?" I asked in a snarky fashion, kicking at his ankle.

He looked over at me plainly, "I'm not allowed to tell you where I'm from. That'd be kind of... Dangerous."

"Hah!" I snorted lightly while laughing, pushing my hair behind the back of my ear. "Stop acting so tough and cool," he looked upset but didn't yell at me directly.

"Believe what you want," he leaned back slightly, glancing at me from the corner of his eye, "but I'm saving both of us a lot of trouble by not telling you,"

"You're obsessed with avoiding uncomfortable situations," I noted, closing my eyes.  
"No," he corrected me, "I avoid hassles, hm,"

"What a big difference," I said sarcastically as the woman came over with our ramen. I thanked her politely, bowing my head slightly. Deidara thanked her as well and we began to eat in silence.

"The ramen here is nice," He said after a while, playing with the noodles. I nodded but added in "but it's NOTHING compared to the ramen where I live," which was a true statement. Ichiraku ramen was and always will be the best ramen stand.

His brows furrowed as I said that, and I could tell he was slightly upset and thinking of something as he used his right hand to flick the top of the broth with his chopsticks.  
"Can you at least tell me the country you come from...?" I asked when he made no attempt to restore conversation. He thought about it for a bit before telling me "The Earth Country. Why?"

"Ah!" I smiled tightly, "Then I'm assuming you have an affinity for Doton,"

"Bakutan..." He corrected in an annoyed way, "...mostly... But Doton as well,"

I nodded, finishing off the noodles quickly and moving on to sipping the broth from the bowl. I put the bowl down and placed my chopsticks in it, moving on to the next question.

"So you're an Iwagakure shinobi?" I asked because of his statement of living in the earth country before.

He was going to shake his head, but instead he replied with "Yeah, I'd appreciate it if you thought about it that way,"

My eyes narrowed as he took a sip of his own broth. I watched the tongue on his left hand wrap around the chopstick and leave a slimy trail similar to a slug. He wasn't THAT disgusting of a man, but the mouths CERTAINLY kept me away.

"What do you mean by that?" I sneered. He looked at me and dropped the chopstick out of his left hand to unzip one of the bags attached to his belt so he could pull out his ninja headband. It WAS from Iwagakure, but it had a long, deep, old scratch running through the middle; a mark of a missing nin; someone who betrays the village.

I looked away quickly and he put the headband away.

"Is that the big secret?" I asked. He put his ramen down and shook his head.  
"No. It's not like I run around bragging about my current non-affiliation with my home village, but what I can't tell you could possibly get many people killed, hm."

"My hero." I replied sarcastically, uncrossing my legs. He chuckled again, cracking a couple of his knuckles.

"So where are you from again, hm?"

I cringed slightly, knowing that if I even said the fire country he would definitely know I was from Konoha. I didn't know how he hadn't guessed it already, being as the Hyuga are one of the four noble clans of Konohagakure.

"Shut up," I groaned instead. "Unlike you I don't have many secrets, so I'm not gonna tell you until you tell me what you're leaving out."

"I don't know what you're talking about, hm. I'm not leaving anything out," I stared at him to see if he was actually trying to seem serious, but felt much better and started to smile when I saw him smirk at me.

Right in the middle of my sickeningly coy smile and somewhat joyful mood I remembered exactly who this man was to me and what he was doing. No matter how sweetly he looked at me, he was still a kidnapper. No matter how happily he joked now, he had attempted to murder me earlier. My smile had vanished as fast as it had come and my head was hung. My long raven colored hair fell from being behind my ear and sort of acted like a curtain or barrier between us.

Deidara either didnt notice my change in mood or did a really good job pretending not to. He pulled out his wallet and left the money on the counter in front of us, and I could see it included a small amount extra.

"So the secretive bad guy leaves good tips?" I asked, trying to lighten my own mood a little bit.

"... Yes." He replied simply, standing up quickly and reaching over politely to help me off of the stool. I declined, hopping off myself and not even looking in his direction. He seemed confused, but truthfully, so was I. I had no clue what to think or believe anymore. My head pooled with thoughts about if I was ever going to journey back to Konoha as if my mind was an overflowing dam.

Deidara got that thinking look on his face again, and grabbed me by my wrist to lead me back to the inn. I didn't want to go into that cramped room with nothing to do. I didn't want to see that embarrassingly foolish lady at the front desk again. All I wanted to do was go home and see all of my friends and family.

"What are you thinking about, hm?" Deidara asked me, which caught me off guard. Usually it was me who would speak to him first to break the tension.

"Home," I admitted and for some unknown reason I felt shameful to admit it. Deidara looked down at me with surprisingly calm eyes. I shifted my gaze down at the dirt path below us.

"Why would you even WANT to go back there..." He asked, "...When right now you're pretty much able to see everything these villages have to offer? That's what you were doing out here in the first place, right, hm?"

I glared at him sharply, pulling away from his grip on my wrist. "Yeah, I planned to do it on my own," I said with an annoyed tone. "But now I don't even know if I'll ever be able to go home,"

"I can't take you home if you don't tell me where you live," He replied, trying to be witty or something like that. Instead it just made my blood boil with anger.  
"How dare you!" I shouted at him while we were walking, pointing a finger at his face. He was definitely taken back by the small outburst, but he pushed my finger back down and started to glare right back at me.

"Don't you DARE try to pull that shit with me," his voice was booming with anger and power. "Okay, so apparently I was stupid to think that I could try to make this situation as stress free as possible for the both of us, but because of you wanting to be a freaking princess by having me listen to your every word, we can't do that now, can we, hm?! So now were gonna do this the hard way!"

He grabbed at my wrist again but this time his grip was like iron. I then knew that I had made a grave mistake in trying to control my captor. Now I was anxious; my stomach was filled with those nervous butterflies that appear when you know something bad was going to happen. I kept my face as blank as a board, trying not to show any amount of emotion. But what did he mean by 'the hard way'? Was he finally going to try to kill me? Was he going to keep me locked up somewhere so that I die of starvation or disease? I didn't even want to imagine.

We got back to the inn and went up to the room. Deidara threw me in there and I stumbled over to the big desk. "Stay. Here." He growled, shutting the door firmly. I worked my way over to the bed and sat on my knees in front of it, crying on the edge of it, wishing I could go home.


End file.
